State close to $1 million settlement in second ethics case
Former ethics commission deputy director Sherilyn Streicker is close to a deal with the state to settle her lawsuit for $1 million, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
A person with direct knowledge of the proposed settlement said the two sides have agreed to an amount and are finalizing details and paperwork. The person was not authorized to speak on the record. Channel 2 Action News reported that a second person involved in the negotiations also confirmed the details.
Attorneys on both sides declined to comment Thursday.
Streicker’s job was eliminated in May 2011 after she and then-commission director Stacey Kalberman investigated Gov. Nathan Deal’s 2010 campaign for governor. Weeks after the pair presented commissioner’s draft subpoenas for records related to the investigation, Kalberman’s salary was slashed and Streicker was fired.
Both filed whisteblower lawsuits in Fulton County Superior Court. Kalberman’s case went to trial and in April a jury awarded her $700,000 in damages plus legal fees. When finalized last month, the Kalberman case cost the state $1.3 million.
The subpoenas in the Deal case were never issued. The commission ultimately cleared Deal of major violations after Kalberman was replaced and Deal agreed to pay $3,350 in fees for technical defects in his disclosure reports.
